Champion of Champions

TOUR and Fed Ex Cup Champ. Bill Haas (via ESPN)

Wow. Just... wow. What a day for golf fans and for the golf world. In case you missed any of what happened today, don't worry, we are here to help recap what went on.

Today marked the final day of not only the Solheim Cup, but also the Fed Ex Cup race. And while we'll eventually talk about both, right now we'll talk about what went down at the Tour Championship.

So on this Sunday, the leaderboard was set for a HUGE number of scenarios for many people to win the Fed Ex Cup. This all was able to happen because number one seed Webb Simpson wasn't playing well at all this week. He was dead last in ball striking, which is something very surprising for a player of his caliber in this 30 man field. All Webb needed to do was to finish at least in 15th place and make sure none of the other top 5 seeds win the event and he would be golden; except that, he didn't. Instead, he had to settle for 22nd place, which made this event wide open.

Hunter Mahan (ranked 21st in the Cup going into this week), Bill Haas (25th), and Aaron Baddeley (27th) all started off as very low seeds but were playing great coming into this Sunday, and all had a chance to win this Cup outright given Simpson's struggles. But, Badds struggled to a 2 over 72, and finished at 7 under with a late rally. Bill Haas had a 3 shot lead after 14 holes, but faltered a bit down the stretch to post 8 under. This meant it all came down to Hunter Mahan on the 72nd hole. It also meant that the winner of this Tour Championship would also become the winner of the Fed Ex Cup. Sooo, not only would they get the 1.4 million dollars for winning this event, but also would take home a cool 10 million dollars from the Fed Ex Cup. (Pretty sweet, I know)

Mahan ended up a little bit long on his tee shot on the long par-3 18th hole, and was faced with a chip. This reminded everyone of the Ryder Cup last year, where he unfortunately flubbed a chip that cost the USA team a shot at victory. Chipping is clearly the weakness in his game, but he hit a beautiful chip that was about 4 feet away from the cup, and drilled the par put to force a playoff for 11.4 million dollars. After a brief period to sign his card and notify Bill Haas, off to 18 they went...
 

Both men tied at 8-under headed to the 18th tee for a sudden hole playoff. Mahan hits a 3 iron with fade spin but ends up short, in the green side bunker. Haas would respond with a mishit that travelled deep and right, nearly hitting the grand stands. Both would make clutch up and downs and continue. Haas played the 17th hole a bit risky, driver off the tee, which would leave him in the a fairway bunker. With not such a great lie in the bunker, Haas would produce a poor shot that would leave him in the green side water hazard. Hahan played the hole a bit safer and would find himself putting for birdie. But surprisingly Haas was able to play from the lake, setting up as if it were a bunker shot, Haas would  play what I call an “unbelievable” shot. Haas would end up just feet from the cup and once again another clutch up and down. Hahan would fall to the pressure of making a putt worth over 11 million dollars, resulting in a par. Both men would head to 18th tee for the 3rd playoff hole. Mahan would find the green side bunker once again and Haas the back of the green. Mahan would not be able to convert for par from the bunker, leaving Haas just  two putts to win it all.